The Offshore Storage Installation is a
barge
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...
which is permanently anchored in
Liverpool Bay
Liverpool Bay is a bay of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside to the east of the Irish Sea. The bay is a classic example of a region of freshwater influence. Liverpool Bay has historically suffered from redu ...
, England, and receives oil from the
Douglas Complex
The Douglas Complex is a high system of three linked platforms in the Irish Sea, off the North Wales coast. The Douglas oil field was discovered in 1990, and production commenced in 1996. Now operated by Eni, the complex consists of the well ...
of
oil platforms in the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
by way of pipelines under the sea. The facility thus serves as a floating oil terminal, and is capable of holding 870,000 barrels of oil, which can then be transferred to tanker vessels as necessary. The OSI is double-skinned, and is protected by an 800-metre
exclusion zone
An exclusion zone is a territorial division established for various, case-specific purposes.
Per the United States Department of Defense, an exclusion zone is a territory where an authority prohibits specific activities in a specific geographic ...
, which is monitored 24 hours a day by
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
and a high-powered patrol vessel.
The facility is crewed by a complement of 14, consisting of operators and technicians, plus two catering personnel and an
Offshore Installation Manager The Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) is the most senior manager of an offshore platform operating on the UKCS.
Many offshore operators have adopted this UK offshore management model and title and applied it to their operations in all global reg ...
(OIM).
A system mounted in the OSI's mooring
buoy
A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents.
Types
Navigational buoys
* Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of ya ...
monitors the integrity of the installation's nine anchoring cables.
See also
*
List of oil fields
This list of oil fields includes some major oil fields of the past and present.
The list is incomplete; there are more than 25,000 oil and gas fields of all sizes in the world. However, 94% of known oil is concentrated in fewer than 1500 gi ...
*
Geology of England
The geology of England is mainly sedimentary. The youngest rocks are in the south east around London, progressing in age in a north westerly direction.
*
Oil platform
References
External links
Liverpool Bay on AIS Liverpool
Oil platforms off England
Oil fields of England
Liverpool
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